"Suite of Carols for Brass Choir" by Leroy Anderson
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Composition: "Suite of Carols for Brass Choir" Arranger: Leroy Anderson Completed: June 12, 1955 Woodbury, Connecticut Instrumentation: Symphony Orchestra Structure: Suite First Performed: June 12, 1950, ; Leroy Anderson, conductor;
III. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - Traditional German Carol
IV. I Saw Three Ships - Traditional English Carol
V. From Heaven High I Come to You - Martin Luther
VI. We Three Kings of Orient Are - John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
VII. March of the Kings - Georges Bizet
Recordings in Chronological Order:
"A Leroy Anderson Christmas" (Decca); Recorded in 1959 for Decca Records by Leroy Anderson conducting a studio orchestra in New York, New York.
"Leroy Anderson: Complete Works" (Naxos); Recorded in 2007 for Naxos Records by Leonard Slatkin conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra at Watford Colosseum in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, U.K.
Composer quote:
"I had the idea of making a more intimate treatment of other Christmas carols; at the same time, however, I didn't just want to make medleys of them, that's the usual thing.
In treating them instrumentally, I thought I'd try to get something that would give a little more scope and be a little different.
So, after thinking it over, I decided that I would make a suite of carols. Except that the one suite turned out to be three suites because of the fact that carols have a great deal of variety.
It seemed that one particular carol would sound best with string orchestra, and another one would sound much better with a brass choir, and another would call for the color that you get from woodwinds;
I finally finished by writing three suites of carols, three different ones; one is for string orchestra, one for brass choir, and one for woodwind ensemble. I took about 18 or 19 of these carols and divided them up and made them into the three suites."
(seven carols, 12:28)
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